Studien zur Geschichte und !(ultur Charity and Giving des islamischen Orients in Monotheistic Religions

Beihefte zur Zeitschrift "Der Islam"

Herausgegeben von Edited by Lawrence I. Conrad Miriam Frenkel and Yaacov Lev

Neue Folge Band 22

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Charity and giving in monotheistic religion I [edited by] Miriam Frenkel and Yaacov Lev. p. cm. - (Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des islamischen Ori­ ents, ISSN 1862-1295 ; Bd. 22) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-3-11-020946-4 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Genorosity. 2. Genorosity - Religious aspects. 3. Monotheism. 4. Charity. 1. Frenkel, Miriam. II. Lev, Yaacov. B]1533.G4G46 2009 205' .677-dcn 2009004216

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The New Direction in Taxation and Waqf Policy in Mid-Twelfth-Century Syria and Northern Mesopotamia

STEFAN HEIDEMANN

1. IntroductionI

This strange system by which the dead provide for rhe living is typical for a sociery which is becoming static and ceases to be competitive and enterpris- mg.. 2 This is how Shlomo Dov Goitein, the author ofA Mediterranean Society, perceived the impact of the endowment (waqf) on Muslim societies dur­ ing the period of Changes in the Middle East (950-1150).3 Research ef­ forts over the past 35 years have proved the opposite of Goitein's claim. A thorough examination of the wealth of the Ottoman archives has led to this re-assessment. For Goitein's period, however, deeds of waqfendow­ ments are almost nonexistent. The impact of the institution of the

This contribution would not have been possible without the splendid academic environment created by the Institute for Advanced Studies at Hebrew Universiry in Jerusalem. Between September 2006 and February 2007 I had the honour to join the Institute as a fellow of the research group 'Chariry and Piery from Late Antiquiry to the Middle Ages' organized by Miriam Frenkel and Yaacov Lev. I owe much to numerous discussions with all members of this group. At the same time this work is part of a larger research project 'The New Economic Dy­ namics in the Zangid and Ayyubid Period' supported by the German Research Foundations (DFG) since 2004. A German version of this study appears in Stif tungen im Islam. Rechtsentwicklung undsoziale Bedeutung vom 7 bis zum 21. Jahr­ hundert, (eds) Astrid Meier and Johannes Pahlitzsch, (Berlin, forthcoming). I would especially like to express my gratitude to Emilie Norris for various com­ ments and careful reading and improving the English draft. 2 Sh. D. Goitein: "Changes in the Middle East (950-1150) as Illustrated by the Documents of the Geniza", Islamic Civilisation 950-1150, Papers on Islamic History III, (ed) D. S. Richards, (Oxford, 1973), 17-32. 3 See fn. 2. 154 Stefan Heidemann Chatity and Piety for the Transformation ofthe Cities 155

th waqfduring the period of urban transformation in the 6th/12 century, programs9 are all comparatively well-known, less familiar are the econom­ therefore, is far less known.4 ic structures behind this blossoming. One could describe the 6th/12th century in Syria and northern Meso­ Mter the Seljuqs had laid the military, administrative, and fiscal foun­ potamia as anything but static. It was a time of renewal and of the final dations, the Zangids conducted far-reaching economic and fiscal reforms Islamization of the cityscapes. A vast building program finally trans­ that allowed for that urban transformation. At the same time the Zangids formed the late Roman/early Islamic city of the sixth to the tenth centu­ adjusted many of the existing political and economic institutions to the ries-followed by almost two centuries ofdecline-to the prosperous me­ regulations and stipulations of the revealed law, the shari'a. The Zangid's dieval5 city of the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries which can be still seen care for Islam, its law and its jihad was vital for their legitimization of in the old towns ofmodern cities in the Middle East. The majority of the power; it distinguished their rule from that of other rival Seljuq princi­ urban populations had become Muslim by now,6 and the appearance of palities in the eyes of their contemporaries, and helped them to gain le­ the cities was dominated by Islamic buildings and institutions.? While the gitimacyas foreign Turkish rulers over the indigenous, mostly Arab and urban decline prior to the Seljuq conquest, the beginning of the urban, Aramaic population. political, and economic renaissances, and the extensive Zangid building Which legal and political instruments for this economic growth were at the disposal of the Zangids? This contribution will study the phenom­ 4 M. Hoexter: "Waqf Studies in the Twentieth Century", jESHO, 41 (1998), enon of the waqfsystem as one important element that led to the final m 474-495. Studies on the waqf in the 6'h112 century are rare, see Y. Frenkel: Islamization of the cities and to their economic revival. Related elements "Political and Social Aspects of Islamic Religious Endowments (awqa/J: Saladin include taxation, iqta' and the monetary system. IO In the middle of the in Cairo (1169-1173) and Jerusalem (1187-1193)", BSOAS, 62 (1999), 1-20, th th and J. Pahlitzsch: "The Transformation of Latin Religious Institutions into Is­ 6 /12 century a new waqf-policy was inaugurated by a ruler from the lamic Endowments by Saladin in Jerusalem", Governing the Holy City. The Inter­ Seljuq tradition, Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi (r. 541-569/1146­ action of Social Groups in Medieval jerusalem, (eds) J. Pahlitzsch and 1. Korn, 1174). The intention ofhis waqfpolicy went far beyond the mere financ­ (Wiesbaden, 2004), 47-69. ing of single institutions. waqfpolicy meant the systematic use of a legal 5 The term 'Middle Ages' is here applied to the second flowering of Islamic civi­ ll lization from the Seljuqs to the early Ottomans, in contrast to the early Islamic instrument of private law for general public duties and purposes which 12 period and the period of the early modern Islamic empires, the Ottomans, the fell-in the broad sense-under the responsibility of the state. This Safawids and the Mughals. 6 According to estimates, the majority of the population in the Middle East be­ came Muslim between the end of the ninth and the twelfth centuries, with re­ ran von der Zeit der beduinischen Vorherrschaft bis zu den Seldschuken, Islamic gional differences. R. W Bulliet attempts a statistical analysis based on collections HistOlY and Civilization. Studies and Texts, 40, (Leiden, 2002). of biographies; R. W Bulliet: Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period. An Essay 9 Y. A. al-Tabba: The Architectural Patronage ofNul' ai-Din (lJ46-1I74), PhD in Quantitative History (Cambridge, London, 1979). M. G. Morony studies in­ dissertation, (New York, 1982). dividual reports on conversions; M. G. Morony: "The Age of Conversions. A 10 For these other elements see S. Heidemann: "Arab Nomads and Seljuq Military", Re-Assessment", Conversion and Continuity. Indigenous Christian Communities Shifts and Drifts in Nomad-Sedentary Relations, Nomaden und Sesshafre 2, (eds) in Islamic Lands, Eighth to Eighteenth Centuries, Papers in Medieval Studies 9, S. Leder and B. Streck, (Wiesbaden, 2005), 289-305; S. Heidemann: "financ­ (eds) M. Gervers and R. J. Bikhazi, (Toronto, 1990), 135-150. N. Levtzion ing the Tribute to the Kingdom of Jerusalem: An Urban Tax in Damascus. In: studies conversion in Syria and Palestine within the context of historical develop­ BSOAS70 (2007),117-142; and S. Heidemann: "Economic Growth and Cur­ ments in the region; Levtzion, N. "Conversion to Islam in Syria and Palestine rency in Ayyubid Palestine", Ayyubid Jerusalem: The Holy City in Context, (ed) and the Survival of Christian Communities", Conversion and Continuity. Indige­ R. Hillenbrand, (London, 2009). nous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands, Eighth to Eighteenth Centuries, Pa­ 11 The term 'public duties' does not exist as such in medieval Arabic terminology. It pers in Medieval Studies, 9, (eds) M. Gervers and R. J. Bikhazi, (Toronto, 1990), is used here in a hermeneutical sense: It means duties which are today usually 289-311. assigned to the state, and which the early Islamic state like the late Roman per­ 7 E. Wirth: Die Orientalische Stadt im islamischen Vorderasien und Nordafrika, formed. The term 'masalih al-muslimin' (welfare of the Muslims) might be the (Maim, 2000). closest Arabic rendering. 8 S. Heidemann: Die Renaissance del' Stiidte in NOI-dsyrien und Nordmesopotamien. 12 It is possible to use the term 'economic policy' for the Zangids: The policy mak­ Stadtische Entwicklung und wirtschaftliche Bedingungen in al-Raqqa und Har- ers were aware of the main economic impacts of their decisions and actions. They 156 Stefan Heidemann Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 157 function of the waqfis familiar to scholars of the Mamluk and Ottoman Exploration of the role of the waqfduring this period of urban ren­ periods, but it is not yet established when and why this conscious policy aissance and transformation contributes to the theory of economic began in the Seljuq and Zangid period. In the 6th/12th century, the newly growth in pre-modern, non-European societies. At the same time, the founded endowments generated their income primarily from urban real legal rationale for the waqfholds within it the ideal of piety and charity estate. 13 In turn, they stimulated a vast building program, and financed that connects it to the Islamic religion. This role and function of the waqf a multitude of urban institutions. The waqfmodel of financing was in­ in the Zangid period will be studied in five steps: creasingly applied to public and semi-public institutions and duties. In What is a waqfand how did it function? fiscal terms, the establishment of an increasing number of waqfi allowed How did the state finance its expenses in the early Islamic period in for an efficient skimming of urban economic activities for public purpos­ comparison to the later Seljuq period? es. This will be explained below. Additionally, the proceeds from the What characterizes the waqfpolicy of Nur ai-Din Mahmud, and what waqfi permitted the abolition of certain taxes and dues that shari'a law distinguishes it from that of his Seljuq predecessors? deemed illegitimate, dues that had previously been the main source of What were the function and the scope of this policy? A part of the an­ cash income of the Seljuq state. The Zangid regime succeeded also in in­ swer becomes apparent in a protocol of a meeting regarding the dispo­ tegrating the theological and judicial elite that were traditionally opposed sition of revenues of the patrimony of the Umayyad Mosque in Dam­ to the state, by increasing the scope ofpositions for the elite in the service ascus. of these endowments with the number of newly established waqfi. They - And in conclusion: What dynamic impacts did the new waqfpolicy thus helped to build a "public sphere" of institutions within the Islamic have on the transformation of the cities in the 6th/12th century? SOCIety.. 14

used their Outcome intentionally for their 'economic policy'. For a discussion of 2. The rationale of the in Islamic law Zangid tax policy, see S. Heidemann: Renaissance, 11-12 fn. 28,331-334. waqf 13 References to endowments of agricultural real estate are rare in Syria and north­ ern Mesopotamia until the Mamluk period. For the middle of the 5rhl11 rh cen­ What is a waqf?15 In the twelfth century the Aleppan legal scholar al-Ka­ tury see J. Sourdel-Thomine and D. Sourdel: "Biens fonciers constitues waqf en sani (d. 587/1189) defines the endowment in brief: Syrie fatimide pour une famille de sharifs damascain", jESHO, 15 (1972), 269-296, and for the end of the 6 cl'/12rh century]. Pahlitzsch: "Transformation", The waqfis a continuous charitable act for the sake of God-He is exalted 51, 53 - 54. In Iraq under Seljuq-Abbasid rule, the waqffinanced by agricultural (al-waqfu sadaqatun jari)'atun fi sabili llahi ta'ala) .16 rents seems to be predominant; Kh.]. al-Duri: Societ), andEconom)' ofIraq under th the Seljuqs (1055-1160 A.D.) with Special Reftrence to Baghdad, PhD disserta­ In the 3'd/9 century the regulations of the waqfdeveloped as part of Is­ tion, (Ann Arbor, 1971), 157-159. The same situation seems to be the case lamic law. According to these regulations, an endowment-or waqf-is in Seljuq Iran; A. K. S. Lambton: ''Awqaf in Persia: 6rh_8thI12rh_14rh Centuries", established by a legal deed that names the owner of the endowed prop­ Islamic Law und Society, 4 (1997), 298-318, here 300-304. After the conquest erty, the substance of the endowment ('ayn or asb, and the beneficiary of Egypt, the Ayyubids tried to convert waqflands into iqta's; D. Behrens-Abou­ (mawquf'alayhi) of its income (manftta). According to the Hanafi school seif: "Wakf II. In the Arab Lands. 1. In Egypt", Enc ofIslam. 2, v. 11 (Leiden, 2002), 63-67. inition ofpublic sphere in pre-modern Muslim societies see D. F. Eickelman and 14 J. E. Gilbert: "Institutionalization of Muslim Scholarship and Professionalization A. Salvatore: "The Public Sphere and Muslim Identities", European journal ofSo­ of the rulama' in Medieval Damascus", SI, 52 (1980), 105-134; M. Hoexter: ciology, 43 (2002), 92-115, esp. 99 with reference to the waqf "The Waqf and the Public Sphere", The Public Sphere in Muslim Societies, 15 For a brief introduction into endowments according to Islamic law see M. (eds) M. Hoexter and Sh. N. Eisenstadt and Nehemia Levtzion, (Albany, Hoexter: "Huquq Allah and huquq al-'ibad as Reflected in the Waqf Institution", 2002),119-138; S. Leder: "Damaskus: Entwicklung einer islamischen Metro­ jSAJ, 19 (1995), 133-156. pole 12.-14. ]ahrhundert und ihre Grundlagen", Alltagsleben und materielle Kul­ 16 Al-Kasani (d. 587/1191): Kitab al-Bada'i' al-sana'i' fi tartib al-sharaJi', 7 vols, tur in del' arabischen Sprache und Literatur. Festschrift fur Heinz Grotzfeld zum (Cairo, without date); reprint, (Beirut, 1406/1986), here v. 6, 218-221 70. Geburtstag, Abhandlungen fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 45,1, (eds) T. (Kitab al-waqf wal-sadaqa) , 221 line 4 (citation). M. Hoexter: "Huquq Allah'; Bauet and U. Stehli-Werbeck, (Wiesbaden, 2005), 233-250. For a general def- 137. 158 Stefan Heidemann Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 159 of law, by the act of endowment, the founder relinquishes all his property 3. Financing the state in the early Islamic and Seljuq period rights, transforming it into a haqq Allah, an inalienable "claim of God". The founder is essentially free to determine the beneficiaries with a few How did the early Islamic state finance its expenses in comparison to the caveats. If he designates a general perpetual charitable purpose, such as later Seljuq state? Continuing the practice of the late Roman empire, the the support of the poor and needy (al-jUqara' wal-masakin) or the holy Umayyad and early Abbasid state financed the military21, and public and sites in Mecca and Medina, then it is referred to as waqfkhayri, a bene­ semi-public institutions and duties primarily from the revenues of the ficial, charitable endowment. The charity of the waqfwas not meant as public treasury (bayt ai-mal or diwan): building and maintaining facilities 22 caritas, in the western sense of charity, nor as a pre-modern relief system such as fortifications, streets, water supply, and mosques , as well as the for the poor. It was intended for the respectable poor, like the mystics or remuneration of its personnel23 and establishing and maintaining mar­ sufis who were referred to generically as the "poor", or fuqara' (singular kets. As income, the state reaped revenue through the agricultural tax, faqir) .17 The despised and in part violent urban lower class was not in­ the kharaj, which was usually collected by the civil administration as cluded in this definition. IS cash payments. Instances are known where the tax assessment was ex­ The founder can also designate a succession of beneficiaries, such as pressed in money but paid in kind.24 In the cities, the poll tax levied members of his own family or any other natural persons in the legal on non Muslims, jizya, was collected in cash. It was paid by the majority sense. Being a formal sub-group of the waqfkhayri, it is referred to as of the population which had remained Christian, Jewish, or Zoroastrian. waqfaMi or waqfdhurri. This type of waqfwas usually established to maintain control over the family's assets and to keep them together in 21 H. N. Kennedy: The Armies ofthe Caliphs. Military and Society in the Early Is­ light of the consequences of Islamic laws of inheritance, and at the lamic State (London, 2001), 78-88. same time to make the property-at least in theory-immune to the fre­ 22 Compare for example H. N. Kennedy: "Gerasa und Scythopolis. Power and Pa­ quent practice of confiscation. The family endowment constituted the tronage in the Byzantine Cities of Bilad ai-Sham", La ville en Syrie et ses territoires. main type of waqfduring the 3rd/9th century.19 Because a waqfmust be Heritages etmutations, BEO, 52, (eds) J.-c. David and M. al-Dbiyat, (Damascus, 2000), 199-204, esp. 204;]. L. Bacharach: "Marwanid Umayyad Building Ac­ perpetual in its legal nature, its founders have to name an ultimate per­ tivities. Speculations on Patronage", Muqamas, 13 (1996), 27-44. petual beneficiary, like the aforementioned general category of the 23 Compare H. ]. Cohen: 'The Economic Background and the Secular Occupa­ "poor and needy". And as any line ofbeneficiaries of a family endowment tions of Muslim Jurisprudents and Traditionalists in the Classical Period of can die out, nearly every waqfaMi ultimately transforms sooner or later Islam (until the Middle of the Eleventh Century)", jESHO, 13 (1970), 16-61, here 24, 33-34. For the first two centuries, Cohen found that 53 per­ into a waqf khayri. When the family line ended and the endowment cent of his sample of Islamic legal scholars was in the service of the state; then the reached the khayri stage, it was generally integrated into the patrimony number fell. In the 3'd/9'h and 4"'/10,h century 75 percent of the scholars listed by of another institution or of another waqf These patrimonies were com­ him were merchants and craftsmen in the market. Along with the dwindling fi­ posed of a large number of individual endowments and properties, but nancial abiliry of the state, this ratio might also come from the growing inner administered as one unit.20 For example, during the 6,h/12rh century, distance of the scholars to the existing Islamic empire. But still, in the time of Nur al-Din Mahmud, 'jurists, the respected poor, mystics and public Qur'an­ the patrimony of the waqfi of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus includ­ readers, (al-:fitqaha' wal-:fitqara' wal-sufiyya wal-qura), were supported by state ed numerous ancient endowed properties. coffers (lahum nasib fi bayt al-mal); Ibn al-Athir (d. 630/1232): Al-Tttrikh al­ Bahil' fi l-dawla al-atabakiyya, (ed) 'Abd al-Qadir Ahmad Tulaymat (Cairo, 17 Compare N. A. Stillman: "Waqfand the Ideology of Charity in Medieval Islam", 1382/1963), 118. The personnel of the endowments, though, were paid from Studies in Honour of Clifford Edmund Bosworth, v.I. Hunter ofthe East: Arabic the revenues of the waqfi; Abu Shama (d. 665/1267): Kitab al-Rawdatayn fi akh­ and Semitic Studies, (ed) 1. R. Netton, (Leiden, 2000), 357-372, esp. 367-371. bar al-daulatayn al-nul'iyya wal-salahiyya, (ed) Muhammad Hilmi Muhammad 18 Compare Y. Lev: "Charity and Social Practice in Egypt and Syria from the Ninth Ahmad and Muhammad Mustafa Ziyada, v. 1, part 1, (Cairo, 1957), 10. to the Twelfth Century", jSAI, 24 (2000), 472-507, esp. 488-491. 24 H. N. Kennedy: "The Financing of the Military in the Early Islamic State", A. 19 P. Ch. Hennigan: The Birth ofa Legal Institution. The Formation ofthe Waqf in Cameron (ed), The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East III-States, Resources, Third-Century A.H., Studies in Islamic Law and Society, 18, (Leiden, 2003). and Armies, Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, 1, (Princeton, 1995), 20 M. Hoexter: "Huquq Allah", 146. 361-378, here 366-367. 160 Stefan Heidemann Chatity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 161

The highly developed monetary economy ensured the fiscal cycle of cash Nur aI-Din Mahmud.30 Numismatic evidence shows a sharp decline in money, meaning tax income and state expenditure. the cash-based monetary economy, reaching a level presumably not Over the course of the 4th /10mand yh/1 1mcenturies, the military, po­ seen since pre-Hellenistic antiquity. To support this evidence, contempo­ litical, administrative, and economic structures of the core lands of the rary legal scholars frequently complain about the state of the monetary Islamic empire collapsed. 25 Archaeological settlement surveys in Syria, system of their time. 31 northern Mesopotamia, and Iraq consistently indicate a sharp decline In the yh/11 th century, a new development started with the Seljuqs. in the number of rural settlements and in turn in primary production Coming from eastern Iran, they conquered the Islamic world. In 479/ and in population.26 During the 4m/lO th century, a further wave ofnoma­ 1087, the Seljuqs succeeded in incorporating Syria. They were in com­ dic migration from the Arab Peninsula into the core regions of the Islam­ mand of a professional army of Turkish horsemen and an efficient ad­ ic empire prompted further expulsion of the settled rural population as ministration in eastern Iranian-Samanid tradition. In contrast to their no­ well as abandonment of villages and small towns. Nomadic camps madic predecessors, they chose fortified cities and fortifications as their (hi//a) frequently became centres of military and political power. Archae­ seats of power. About 150 years after the collapse of Abbasid rule, rulers ology, architecture, and narrative sources also point to a sharp decline in in Syria and northern Mesopotamian again commissioned the construc­ urban centres and report on ruinous and deserted city quarters. Since the tion of monumental representative buildings. Frequently, after a con­ beginning of the 4m/10th century, the ability of the state to maintain and quest, one of the first projects was to build minarets which may be 32 support 'public' and 'semi-public' facilities, institutions and their person­ seen as victory monuments of the Sunni renaissance. The Seljuq con­ nel diminished considerably. This can be seen in many, especially small cept offinancing the state was different from that of the early Islamic pe­ and medium sized, cities where state-financed central buildings, like con­ riod and a reaction to the new social, demographic, economic, and mon­ gregational mosques, became dilapidated. This happened not only in the etary conditions. The basis of the Seljuq power was a seasonally available 27 28 29 army of horsemen. To finance them, the hinterland of the conquered cit­ provinces but also in major cities like Damascus and Baghdad • Writ­ ies was divided into iqta'-districts and distributed among army command­ ing in the middle of the 6th/12mcentury tImad aI-Din al-Isfahani (d. 597/ ers, amirs, and their detachments. These troops and their leaders usually 1201) estimated more than hundred dilapidated mosques in the realm of lived in their allotted iqta'-district. The iqta' was an immediate claim on the land-tax revenues (kharaj) of that district as remuneration for military 25 S. Heidemann: Renaissance, 29-33. service. Ideally-according to Nizam al-Mulk (d. 488/1095), the political 26 Compare for example R. M. Adams: Land Behind Baghdad. A History ofSettle­ architect of the Seljuq empire-the collecting tax administration and the ment on the Diyala Plains, (Chicago, London, 1%5); K. Bartl: Fruhislamische Be­ t 33 beneficiary, the muqta , should be separated. Because of the political and siedlung im Balikh-Tctl/Nordsyrien, Berliner Beitdige zum Vorderen Orient, 15, (Berlin, 1994). 27 S. Heidemann: "Ein Schatzfund aus dem Raqqa der Numairidenzeit, die "Sied­ 30 See fn. 47. lungsliicke" in Nordmesopotamien und eine Werkstatt in der GrofSen Moschee", 31 On the relationship between monetary economy and economic growth see S. Gedenkschrift fiir Michael Meinecke, Damaszener Mitteilungen, 11, (Mainz, Heidemann: Renaissance, 355-363; S. Heidemann: "Economic Growth and 1999),227-242; S. Heidemann: "Numayrid al-Raqqa. Archaeological and His­ Currency in Ayyubid Palestine". torical Evidence for a 'Dimorphic State' in the Bedouin Dominated Fringes of 32 S. Heidemann: Renaissance, 154-155. the Fatimid Empire", Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk 33 Nizam al-Mulk envisaged a separation of both functions in his blueprint for the Eras, IV, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 140, (eds) U. Vermeulen and J. Van Seljuq state, the Siyasatnama. The assignment of an iqta'to an amir entitled him Steenbergen, (Leuven, 2005), 85 -11O. in principle only to claim the tax yield. Tax monies were collected by the locall 28 J.-M. Mouton: Damas et sa principautr! sous les Saljoukides et les Bourides 468­ regional fiscal authorities and handed over to him. The amir and his unit could 54911076-1154. Vie politique et religieuse, Textes arabes et etudes islamique, be deployed in any province far away from his iqta'. The iqta" in theory, was not 33, (Cairo, 1994), 257. meant to give the amir any political authority over his iqta'; Nizam al-Mulk (d. 29 On 21 Jumada II 329/23 March 941 the Green Dome of the congregational 488/1095), Siyasatname, (ed) Hubert Darke: Siyar al-Muluk also known as Siya­ mosque of Madinat al-Salam collapsed. The dome was a landmark, visible satnama of Nizam al-Mulk (Tehran, 1%2),48; translated into German by K. E. from the far distance and recognized as symbol of Abbasid might and power. Schabinger Freiherr von Schowingen: Nizamulmulk. Das Buch del' Staatskunst. 162 Stefan Heidemann Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 163 economic situation in the Western Seljuq empire, however, the beneficia­ and huquq al-bay', were levied. These dues were illegitimate according to ry, the amir who held claims to the iqta', had to take over at the same time the shari'a. 37 The contemporary legal scholar, theologian, and mystic al­ the civil and in particular the fiscal administration, as well as the military Ghazali (d. 505/1111) leaves no doubt about that: protection and political responsibility of the district where he levied taxes. The assets of the sultans in our time (amwal al-salatin fi 'asrina) are all un­ 38 Since the bulk of the dues were presumably paid in kind, the food could lawful (haram) or to the greater part. be directly consumed by the army without making a detour through the market. This system reflects the level of the shrunken monetary economy and the prevailing political and military conditions in Syria and northern 4. The waqfpolicy of Nur al-Din Mahmud Mesopotamia at the beginning of the 6t11/12th century. For their provi­ sions, the army of horsemen was almost independent from the Seljuq What significance did the waqfhave prior to the period of Nur aI-Din ruler. To cope with the centrifugal forces inherent in such a system, an Mahmud? Narrative sources from the 150 years preceding the Seljuq elite troop of military slaves, mamluks or ghulams (plural ghilman), conquest of Syria only occasionally mention endowments, and almost were built up, maintained, and financed through cash payments.34 none was established by rulers or members of the ruling elite.39 Nizam Cash was also necessary for the construction of fortifications, monumen­ al-Mulk's policy of the Sunni renaissance included the establishment of tal representative buildings, and court expenditures. To raise cash money, schools of higher learning, madrasas, and of convents for the mystic primarily urban economic activities were skimmed. In the 6th/12th centu­ Sufis, khanqahs. The madrasas served the education of religious scholars ry, the majority of the population-with regional differences-had be­ for the Sunni renaissance and of legal scholars for the civil administration. come Muslim.35 As a result, the formerly important contribution of These new establishments were usually supported by waqfi. Educational the jizya, paid in cash, to state revenues had significantly decreased, ac­ policy and spiritual care were the main motivations behind this wave of cording to tax lists from various Ayyubid cities.36 In order to get income endowments. The first Seljuq sultans, however, did not take the initiative in cash money for the treasury, excise, mukus, which was a toll on long for their establishment. The known waqfi were set up by governors, vi­ distance trade was imposed, and intra-urban dues on sales, rusum, dara'ib ziers, and others. Farm land leased to peasants formed the main financial base of these waqfi.40 According to Ann Lambton, the number of endow- Siyasatname, 2nd edition, (Zurich, 1987), 198. In the Western Seljuq empire, however, both functions, that of the muqta' and ami!; usually merged. Such a dis­ tinction which Nizam al-Mulk demanded might have been feasible only within a developed monetary economy which also included rural areas and which allowed 37 S. Heidemann: Renaissance, 324-339. an easy transportation of tax revenues over long distances to the iqta' beneficia­ 38 Ghazali (d. 50511111): Ihya' 'ulum ai-din. (ed) Abu I-Hafs Sayyid Ibrahim ibn ries. In the Seljuq period, this was probably only the case in eastern Iran and in Sadiq ibn 'Umran, known as Abu Hafs, 5 vols, (Cairo, 1414/1994), here v. 2, Egypt. In many regions of the Western Seljuq empire-meaning the core regions 216; translated into German by H. Bauer: Erlaubtes und verbotenes Gut. Das of the Islamic empire-a tax, paid in kind, was probably more efficient. For the 14. Buch von al-Ghazali's Hauptwerk, (Halle, 1922), 159. About al-Ghazali's relation between land tax, kharaj, and iqta' see S. Heidemann: Renaissance, criticism of the Seljuq tax system see S. Heidemann: Renaissance, 302-305. 306-315. 39 For an overview of the history of the waqf institution in Syria see A. Meier: 34 About the Seljuq military and its funding see S. Heidemann: "Arab Nomads and "WakE II. In the Arab Lands. 2. In Syria", Enc ofIslam 2, v. 9, 823-828. The Seljuq Military". situation was different in Egypt where the Fatimid caliph aI-Hakim bi-Amrillah 35 See fn. 6. established some waqfi, see Y Lev: "Charity and Social Practice", 493-495. For 36 S. Heidemann: Renaissance, 323-324. Nevertheless, jizya payments were-ac­ a document from the Fatimid period see J. Sourdel-Thomine and D. Sourdel: cording to the Geniza documents-extremely harsh for poor Jews and Christians, "Biens fonciers". The presentation of Deborah Tor, "Piety in the Great Seljuq because the Ayyubids levied-at least in Egypt-the poll tax strictly. Alshech Era" at the research group's concluding conference in February 2007 showed even supposes that this relentlessness was meant as an expression of the piety that the early Seljuq sultans, especially Tughrilbeg and Alb Arslan, were neither of the state; E. Alshech: "Islamic Law, Practice, and Legal Doctrine: Exempting praised for piety, for sadaqa (benevolent charity) nor for the establishment of the Poor from the Jizya Under the Ayyubids (1171-1250)", Islamic Law and So­ waqfi. ciety, 10 (2003), 348-375. 40 A. K. S. Lambton: "Awqaf in Persia", 300. 164 Stefan Heidemann Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 165 ments in Iran did not increase significantly until the late 7th/13'h centu­ What characterizes the waqf-policy of Nur al-Din Mahmud as con­ ry. 41 trasted with the practice of his predecessors? The reign of Nur al-Din Mter the Seljuq conquest of Syria and northern Mesopotamia, waqfi, Mahmud and his son and successor al-Salih Isma'il (r. 569-576/1174­ endowed by the ruling dynasty and their households, were more com­ 1181) is not only distinguished by an ideological emphasis on the monly mentioned for this region. Prior to the period of Nur aI-Din Mah­ Sunni renaissance but as well by visible and effective economic and fiscal mud, their number remained small and enumerable. In 491/1097-8, the reforms in more than one field. The necrologies and eulogies on Nur al­ first hospital, a madrasa, and a khanqah were built in Damascus and sup­ Din Mahmud form the basis for the study of his economic and fiscal ported by a waqfendowed by the local Seljuq-Burid ruler and his moth­ measures. Yaacov Lev undertook a first appraisal of his economic policy.46 er. 42 In 508/1114-5, a waqfof a judge, qadi, from the influential family Al-Isfahani47, Ibn 'Asakir (d. 571/1175-6)48, Ibn al-Athir (d. 630/ al-Khashshab is mentioned for Aleppo.43 In 516/1122-3, the first ma­ 1232)49, and Abu Shama (d. 665/1267)50 begin their biographies of drasa in Aleppo (al-madrasa al-zujajiyya) was established, presumably Nur aI-Din Mahmud with elaborate eulogies on his pious devotion funded by a waqf44 In al-Raqqa at the Euphrates, a waqf inscription, and virtue. This panegyric differs from that of his predecessors inasmuch dated to the first decades of the 6'h/ 12th century, names an 'Uqaylid as the authors deal extensively with his economic policy. According to the amir as founder. 45 characteristics of this genre, though, such policies are described as acts of Despite the small number of references to waqfi, it can be assumed piety and justice: he has laudably abolished the urban dues which were that family waqfi and the patrimonies of established old waqfi and insti­ illicit according to the shari'a, e. g. mukus, dara'ib, rusum, and huquq tutions played a major role in the economic life of the cities in Syria and al-bay'. The later frequently repeated reports of their abrogation point northern Mesopotamia, even before the time of Nur aI-Din Mahmud. In in two seemingly opposed directions: on the one hand, they are witness general, they were, however, no subject for the historical record. The im­ for the continuous efforts of the Zangid rulers and their successors to portance of these endowments, though, is evidenced in the enumeration conform fiscal regime to the shari'a, and on the other hand, they show of real estate administered by the patrimony of the waqfof the Umayyad the continuous need for these levies to fund growing state expenditures. 51 mosque in Damascus which will be discussed below in chapter 5.

46 Y. Lev: "The Social and Economic Policies of Nur al-Din (1146-1174): The Sultan of Syria", Del' Islam, 81 (2004),218-242. 41 A. K. S. Lambton: "Awqaf in Persia", 304. 47 'Imad al-Din Katib al-Isfahani in Abu Shanla: Rawdatayn, 2 vols (Cairo, 42 A. Meier: "Wakf. II. In the Arab Lands. 2. In Syria", 825. For the waqfunder the 1287-1288/1870-1871), here v. 1, 10-11; (ed) Ahmad and Ziyada, v. 1, Burids see J.-M. Mouton: Damas, esp. 87-88. See also J. E. Gilbert: "Institu­ part 1, 24-27; (ed) Ibrahim al-Zaybaq, 5 vols (Beirut, 1997), here v. 1, tionalization", 115-117 and 127-128. 50-54, and in Bundari (c. 7rh/13 rh c.): Sana al-barq al-shami, ikhtisar al-Fath 43 The qadi Abu I-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Khashshab endowed an area of the ibn 'Ali al-Bundari min kitab al-barq al-shami lil-'lmad ai-Din al-Isfthani, (ed) Hammam al-Bayluna (hiql al-hammam al-bayluna) for the sustenance of the Fathiya al-Nabarawi, (Cairo, 1979), 16. Masjid ]urn al-Asfar which he had established; Ibn Shaddad (d. 684/1285): 48 Ibn 'Asakir (d. 571/1175 -6): Tarikh Madinat Dimashq. (partial ed) and transla­ AI-A'iaq al-khatira fi dhikr umara' ai-Sham wal-]azira [v. 1 part 1], (ed) Domi­ tion by Nikita Elisseeff. "Un document contemporain de Nur al-Din, sa notice nique Sourdel: La description d'Alep dlbn Shaddad, (Damascus, 1953), 35 and biographique par Ibn 'Asakir", BED, 25 (1972), 125-140, here, 129 and 138. 64. This endowment not only supported the mosque, but also the needy of 49 Ibn al-Athir: Bahil~ 161-172; Ibn al-Athir: AI-Kamilfi I-tarikh, (ed) C. J. Torn­ the family al-Khashshab. berg, 13 vols (Leiden, 1851-1874), here v. 11,264-267; (ed) Beirut, 13 vols 44 Ibn Shaddad: al-A'laq, 96. (Beirut, 1399/1979), here V. 11, 402-405. 45 A fragment of an inscription in al-Raqqa reports on an endowment, a waqf, es­ 50 Abu Shama: Rawdatayn, (ed) Cairo, v. 1,5-24, esp. 16-18; (ed) Ahmad and tablished by a son of the 'Uqaylid amir Abu I-Zimam Salim ibn Malik. The in­ Ziyada, v. 1, part 1, 9-58, esp. 39-44; (ed) Zaybaq, v. 1, 31-92, esp. 70-77. scription dates the building which is not yet located in or after the year 5001 51 At least in 19,h century Morocco, the temporary abrogation of illegitimate taxes 1106-7; c.-P. Haase: "Inschriften der islamischen Zeit", Raqqa II. Die islami­ (mukus) were almost customary in the reciprocal act of the oath of allegiance sche Stadt, (eds) S. Heidemann and A. Becker, (Mainz, 2003), 99-111, here (bay'a); notwithstanding certain uprisings about their re-introduction; see B. 103 no. 22. Dennerlein: "Legitimate Bounds and Bound Legitimacy. The Act of Allegiance 166 Stefan Heidemann Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 167

In such a situation of expanded public duties and responsibilities, howev­ al-Raqqa. Nur aI-Din Mahmud now ordered their reconstruction.54 In er, even a partial abolition of illegitimate dues has to be financially com­ accordance with al-Isfahani, Abu Shama states that Nur al-Din Mahmud pensated in some other way-and that way was with the establishment of endowed a separate waqffor each institution. endowments. In the Zangid and Ayyubid period, primarily revenue-generating For the first time endowments occupy a broad space within the eulo­ urban real estate was endowed, for example shops in the markets, tene­ gies of the piety ofa ruler in Seljuq tradition. Immediately after the above ment buildings, commercial complexes, bakeries, mills, and baths. mentioned abrogation of illegitimate dues, Abu Shama continued with Where did those assets for Nur aI-Din Mahmud's investments come paragraphs about the endowments of Nur aI-Din Mahmud. In these eu­ from? Only private property (milk) can be legitimately endowed. Ibn logies, the public or semi-public responsibilities of the state are summar­ al-Athir addresses this issue: ized by the term masalih al-muslimin. With a general meaning of"welfare According to the shari'a, there was only fully legitimate property, in outer of the Muslims", the term is also used in a more specific sense. Ibn al­ [appearance] and inner [substance]. He [Nur ai-Din Mahmud] [only] en­ Athir explains the term at the beginning of a chapter: "And that which dowed what was turned over to him and [what] he inherited of its sum of he [Nur al-Din Mahmud] did as masalih is very much; it is that which its money [?] or what he appropriated in the lands of the Franks and became his share.55 he undertook in the lands of Islam (bilad al-Islam) in regard to their pro­ tection and the protection of the Muslims (hifzuha wa-hifz al-musli­ The aforementioned eulogies emphasize this distinction of Nur aI-Din min)." Ibn al-Athir proceeds in the next sentence with the-still Mahmud between his private purse and the state coffers. Ibn al-Athir today-impressive building program of Nur aI-Din Mahmud, and enu­ points out that the latter directly benefited the 'welfare of the Muslims' merates the institutions which fell under the term masalih, welfare, in a (al-amwal al-mursada li-masalih al-muslimin). This distinction between concrete way. Ibn al-Athir names at first city walls and fortifications, in­ private purse and state coffers may have been an innovation in compar­ stitutions of education and higher learning, followed by mosques, hospi­ ison to the supposed practice in the Western Seljuq empire, because there, tals, Sufi convents, guesthouses for pilgrims and many more.52 the function ofa military commander ofa district, an amir, was essential­ The establishment of endowments became now an immediate con­ ly synonymous with that of the muqta', the beneficiary of the tax revenue cern for the rulers. Endowments were no longer left to the charity of of an iqta'. The fiscal revenue was directly appropriated as remuneration the ruling families and their households. For the period of Nur al-Din without going through the public treasury for redistribution. Even if Nur Mahmud, 'Imad al-Din al-Isfahani gives the figure of more than hundred al-Din Mahmud's private wealth and the state's coffers were not system­ dilapidated mosques which Nur al-Din Mahmud began to reconstruct, atically separated, like in all pre-modern states, then, nevertheless, the re- and to each of them he assigned a supporting waqf Under his rule the number of waqfi increased considerably.53 The extensive building pro­ 54 For the congregational mosque in al-Raqqa see fn. 27. The inscription above the entrance mentions only the restoration and construction, but does not inform gram even included construction work in small and medium sized cities, about financing and support of the building. such as al-Raqqa on the Euphrates, which were not immediately affected 55 Ibn al-Athir: Bahir, 172: "laysa fiha milkun ghayrin sahihin shar'iyin zahiran wa­ by the series of devastating earthquakes that took place in Syria in 546/ batinan. Fa-innahu waqafa ma ntaqala ilayhi wa-wazana thamanahu aw ma gha­ 1152 and between 551/1156 and 554/1159. According to archaeological liba 'alayhi min biladi l-ji'anji wa-sara sahmuhu". The reading of the phrase, evidence, for more than a hundred years, some buildings of central im­ marked in the translation with a question mark, is problematic. According to the phrasing of the Bahir, it must be translated "and he weighed its price [prob­ portance had lain in ruins, for example the congregational mosque in ably the coins as price]". This translation, however, is not conclusive in a sentence which should inform about the origin of the endowed property. A passage, sim­ to the Ruler (Bai'a) in 19th Century Morocco", Welt des lslams, 41 (2001), ilar in the grapheme, can be found in Abu Shama's Rawdatayn, (ed) Ahmad and 287-310, here 292-296. Ziyada, v. 1. part 1, 23 line 7: "wa-waritha thamanahu (and what he inherited of 52 Ibn al-Athir: Bahil~ 170. its sum of money)". The editor of the Bahir, 'Abd aI-Qadir Tulaymat, found the 53 Katib al-Isfahani in Abu Shama: Rawdatayn, (ed) Ahmad and Ziyada, v. 1, part last phrasing more convincing although that reading is again not completely sat­ 1,26. isfactory. Possibly there is a mistake in the transmission of the text. 168 Stefan Heidemann Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 169 ports of his panegyrists imply that neither legitimate nor illegitimate tax fice seems to be parallel to the diwan al-ard, "the office of the land", that monies were spent on establishing waqfi.56 The ability of Nur aI-Din supervised the iqta's. The first named supervisor of the waqfi was the Sha­ Mahmud to set up more than one hundred endowments raises questions fi'i jurist Sharaf aI-Din Abu Sa'id 'Abd Allah ibn Abi 'Asrun (488-585/ about his personal wealth and its sources as well as about the position of 1095-1189)58, who appears to have had an important influence on the Seljuq-Zangid ruler within the economic life of his principality, ques­ Nur aI-Din Mahmud's waqfpolicy. Kamal aI-Din al-Shahrazuri (d. 57 tions which cannot be answered sufficiently by available sources. 572/1176-7)59 succeeded him in this office.60 As a provisional conclusion, it can be stated: within the fiscal and economic architecture of the principality of Nur al-Din Mahmud and his Zangid and Ayyubid successors, endowments of urban, commercial, 5. The meeting about the assignment of income revenue-generating real estate constituted a major source for funding of from the patrimony of the Umayyad Mosque urban public and semi-public institutions and duties. This funding was independent from the state's treasury. This is evident by the numerous Bet\veen Sha'ban 551/September 1156 and Jumada I 554/May 115961, still existing buildings, the eulogies that report on funding by waqfi, again a series ofdevastating earthquakes ravaged Syrian cities. 62 In this ex­ and the concurrent abrogation of dues illegitimate according to the sha­ ceptional emergency situation, the responsible urban elite faced the enor- ri'a. One main model of funding, that by the treasury, was replaced by another, the waqf The endowments became in certain respects the urban equivalent of the agricultural iqta'. Both, waqfand iqta', were suit­ 58 Until Nur ai-Din Mahmud appointed him in Aleppo, Ibn Abi 'Asrun taught in Mosul and Sinjar. After the conquest of Damascus, he taught at the Ghazaliyya able institutional solutions at a given level of fiscal instruments, of eco­ within the Umayyad Mosque and assumed the office of the supervisor of the nomic development, and of monetary economy. They allow their benefi­ waqfi, mutawalli al-awqaf Ibn Shaddad: A'laq, 98-99; al-Nu'aymi (d. 927/ ciaries-whether an urban institution or a military detachment-to ach­ 1520-1): Al-Daris fi tarikh al-madaris, (ed) ]a'far ai-Hanni, 2 vols, (Cairo, ieve financial independence from the state coffers by establishing and 1988), here v. 1, 383-400, esp. 400. N. Elisseeff: Nul' ad-Din, un grand prince skimming their own financial resources. In contrast to the iqta~ however, musulman de Syrie au temps des croisades (511-569 H/1118-1174), 3 vols., (Damascus, 1967), here v. 3, 929-930. the waqfis an institution whose legal form is well-rooted in the shari'a as 59 He was appointed as qadi l-qudat, chief judge, in Damascus and at the same time sadaqa, charitable giving. The legal and spiritual importance of the waqf 'inspector of endowments' nazir al-awqaf; see A. Meier: "Wakf", 825, and N. far exceeds the described function as a financial instrument. The military Elisseeff: Nul' ad-Din, v. 2, 680-681, v. 3, 827. th iqta' goes back to the legitimate tax yield from agricultural activities 60 Before that period, in the 4 l1 Oth century, such a central supervision of endow­ (kharaj) whereas the waqfis an institution entirely under private law. ments did exist in Iraq (diwan al-birr wa-diwan al-sadaqat). This was, howevet, a different historical and economic environment. Miskawayh (d. 421/1030): Kitab In the time of Nur aI-Din Mahmud, the office of the "administrator Tajarib al-umam, (eds) and translated by Henri F. Amedroz and David Samuel of the supervision of the waqfi", the mutawalli nazr al-awqaf seems to Margoliouth. The Eclipse of the 'Abbasid Caliphate, v. I and II; tr. IV and V, have been either newly created or is emphasized for the first time in (Oxford, 1920, 1921), here v. 1, 152; A. Duri: "Diwan. The 'Abbasid Period", the reports of this period. Its duty was to supervise and control those in­ Enc ofIslam 2, v. 2 (Leiden, 1991), 324; E. Tyan: Histoire de l'organisation judic­ aire en pays dIslam, (Leiden, 1960), 382-383. In Fatimid period a diwan al­ stitutions that the waqfmade financially independent from the ruler, and ahbas exists in Egypt; D. Behrens-Abouseif: "Wakf. II. In the Arab Lands. 1. to align them with the goals of the Zangid policy. In this regard, the of- In Egypt". 61 Ibn al-Qalanisi (d. 555/1160): Dhayl tarikh Dimashq. (ed) Suhayl Zakkar, (Dam­ 56 J. Pahlitzsch: "Transformation", 54-58, discusses this question whether Nur al­ ascus, 140311983),514,518,525-531, 533, 54l; Abu Shama: Rawdatayn, (ed) Din Mahmud or Saladin turned land belonging to the bayt al-mal into an en­ Zaybaq, v. 1, 332-336, 375, 381. dowment. In all cases in which a conclusion can be dtawn, a private purchase 62 E. Guidoboni and F. Bernardini and A. Comasrri: "The 1138-1139 and of land from the state preceded the endowment. 1156-1159 Destructive Seismic Crises in Syria, South-Eastern Turkey and 57 Compare the extent of economic activities of later Mongol rulers in Iran W Northern Lebanon", Journal ofSeismology, 8 (2004), 105-127; N. N. Ambra­ Hinz: "Ein orientalisches Handelsunternehmen im 15. Jahrhundert", Welt des seys: "The 12th Century Seismic Paroxysm in the Middle East. A Historical Per­ Orients, 1 (1947-9),313-340. spective", Annals of Geophysics, 47 (2004), 733-758. 170 Stefan Heidemann Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 171 mous challenge of reconstructing the city and financing the reconstruc­ waqfi of the congregational mosque, the mosques, the hospital, the aque­ tion. Abu Shama's chronicle preserved parts of a protocol of a meeting ducts (quniyi l-sabil) and what goes with those, that he read out before him in the presence of the aforementioned [attendees] the proceeds of the that took place in the citadel of Damascus, on Thursday, 19 Safar 63 endowments (daribati l-awqaj), place by place (mawdi'an mawdi'an), in 554/12 March 1159. The protocol sheds light on the function and order to separate what-according to their knowledge-belongs to the ma­ the scope of the waqfpolicy of Nur al-Din Mahmud within the econom­ salih pr?perty and does not belong to the waqf(annahu lil-masalih duna 1­ ic and fiscal parameters described above. waqf).6) The meeting was hosted by Nur aI-Din Mahmud. The named attend­ The document continues with an extensive list of the patrimony's real es­ ees were the Shafi'i qadi of Damascus as chief representative of the legal tate holdings within Damascus, emphasizing the great economic impor­ system; the "administrator for the supervision of the waqfi", the Shafi'i tance of the patrimony for the city. This list itemizes numerous shops in Ibn Abi 'Asrun; members of Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools of the suq, a commercial complex (qaysariyya), tenements, rooms for rent law, but no one of the Hanafi school; the heads of the urban administra­ and a bakery. All property was scattered within the entire area of the in­ tion and militia and also professional witnesses. Nur al-Din Mahmud had tramural city. The protocol implies four legal categories as how the afore­ summoned all the relevant urban dignitaries-this is evident by the cir­ mentioned real estate belonged to the masalih assets of the patrimony: cumstances-to find a mutually agreeable, practical, and first of all legal­ First, real estate that formed part of the Umayyad family's legacy within ly legitimate solution, to redirect funds from the largest and richest pat­ the city (mirath bani umayya); second, all that which was acquired with rimony of the city, that of the Umayyad Mosque, to urban construction and re-construction projects and also to the fortification of the city. the assets of the waqfi and masalih (bi-mal al-waqfwal-masalih); third, Over the centuries, the great patrimonies had accumulated enormous family waqfi that came to the patrimony when their last beneficiary capital in the form of commercially used real estate. In the protocol the passed on; those which had no living immediate beneficiary anymore term masalih was used in two different ways: in the general sense as 'wel­ and which had become part of the patrimony; fourth, commercially fare of the Muslims (masalih al-muslimin)'; and in a specific usage, as used real estate built on public streets and grounds (tariq al-muslimin), productive assets of the patrimony which are not part of an endowment. such as those within the old temenos, the precinct of the Hellenistic tem­ The use of their proceeds was not regulated by any waqfdeed. In general, ple which had become the Umayyad Mosque. Nur al-Din Mahmud then the masalih-assets should serve the 'welfare' (masalih).64 Abu Shama: directed the discussion toward re-assignment of these revenues he wished to achieve. And Nur al-Din asked them about the [additional] asset of masalih which was added to the waqfi of the congregational mosque in Damascus (al­ And Nur al-Din said: ''And in fact the most important of the welfare (ma­ mudaf ila awqaf al-masjid ai-Jamie bi-Dimashq min al-masalih) , [and] salih) is the protection of the border lands of the Muslims (sadd tughur al­ which [i.e. the additional asset] is not an endowment for it [i.e. for the mos­ muslimin) and the building of a wall enclosing Damascus (bina' ai-sur al­ que] (allati laysat waqfim 'alayha). [...] muhit bi-Dimashq), towers (al-qilal)66 and a moat (al-khandaq) for the safety Then Nur al-Din ordered [the Shafi'i Ibn Abi 'Asrun] , the mutawalli of the of the Muslims (li-siyanat al-muslimin), their families (harimuhum) and their properties (amwaluhum)." And they approved what he suggested and they 67 63 Abu Shama: Rawdatayn, (ed) Cairo, v. 1, 17-18; (ed) Ahmad and Ziyada, v. 1, thanked him. part 1, 41 - 44; (ed) Zaybaq, v. 1, 73 - 77. Compare also the discussion on the protocol in]. Pahlitzsch, "Transformation", 56-57. After the attendees had approved the new assignments of the proceeds 64 For the development of the legal term maslaha see F. M. M. Opwis: Maslaha: An from the masalih assets, Nur al-Din Mahmud turned to another source Intellectual History ofa Core Concept in Islamic Legal Theory, PhD Thesis Yale of revenue, the surplus from the endowments, fawadil al-awqaf This University, (Ann Arbor, 2002), esp. 42-43 (she cites here al-Ghazali), 341-343. At the end of the yh/ l1,h century, the concept of maslaha gained ground in the law finding process. Al-Ghazali (d. 50511111) envisioned maslaha 65 See fn. 63. as a method to expand the law in the cases for which no textual evidence directly 66 This part of the sentence is missing in Cairo edition and in that of Ahmad and applied. Its application should remain restricted to those cases that displayed ne­ Ziyada, but it is present in the edition of Zaybaq. cessities. 67 See fn. 63. 172 Stefan Heidemann Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 173 term refers to the net income of the waqJ; the gross income minus the 6. Conclusion: The dynamic economic effects expenditures to fulfil the purposes stipulated in the waqfdeed. of the waqfpolicy Then he [Nur aI-Din Mahmud] asked them about [the disposition of] the surpluses of the endowments (jazuadil al-azuqaj} [He asked] "Is it permissi­ The transformation from the late Roman and early Islamic cities to that ble to spend them on the construction ofcity walls and works on the moat as type of medieval cities found today in the old towns in the Middle East welfare (masalih) which is intended to be for the Muslims?" Then Sharaf al­ 68 was achieved-among other factors-with the help of a consciously ap­ Din 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Maliki gave his legal opinion (afta) about the law­ fulness (jazuaz) of that.69 plied instrument of funding: the waqf The reign of Nur aI-Din Mah­ mud saw a visible change, in quality and in quantity, of the endowment; In the following statements of the attendant legal scholars, some criticism it found now a widespread systematic political application in Syria and became apparent. They expressed concerns about the revenue of the northern Mesopotamia. This new policy went far beyond the financing waqfi being spent on issues other than those stipulated in the waqf of single institutions. Mter two centuries of decline, the state penetrated deeds. Finally, according to the protocol, all attendees approved the pol­ more and more into society, particularly with regards to monetary econ­ icy of Nur al-Din Mahmud. With this decision, they not only acknowl­ omy, the fiscal system, the legal system, public security, education, urban edged the authority of Nur aI-Din Mahmud but attended the obvious infrastructure, road construction and much more. Mter the Seljuq con­ needs after the earthquakes. th quest of the late 5 /II th century, this expansion of the state was financed In this case, Nur al-Din Mahmud succeeded in finding a legally ap­ by dues and taxes illegitimate according to the shari'a, i. e. the mukus, proved solution to tap the revenues of a major patrimony for funding of rusum, daraYb, and huquq aI-bay'. Their levying, however, contradicted public and semi-public duties. In comparison to later treatises and prac­ the ideological self-perception of the Seljuqs and their successors, the tice, it can be supposed that this was not a singular incident in Damascus, but mirrored a now growing practice of control by the ruler over the Zangids and Ayyubids who saw themselves as the revivers of the Islamic spending ofrevenues of these major patrimonies.70 The largest urban pat­ state and its legal system. rimony in Damascus controlled much of the urban economy. In turn, the Nur aI-Din Mahmud found a different solution than taxes. The po­ control of the surplus from the patrimony and the newly established litical assignment of the proceeds of the numerous newly established waqfi allowed Nur al-Din Mahmud to control indirectly the use of the waqfi and-at least after the earthquakes during the reconstruction peri­ surplus of urban economic activity and to redirect it to 'public' purposes od-the revenues of the masalih assets and the sutplus of the patrimonies without reverting to direct taxes, and even abolishing them, at least from made it possible to skim urban economic activities for public and semi­ time to time. public duties and construction projects while still abolishing or lowering the criticised dues and taxes. The funds came from the private property of the ruler. This and the creation of the numerous waqfi itself entered the eulogies on the piety and justice of Nur al-Din Mahmud and served as part of his political legitimization. At the existent level of fiscal and economic organization and a rela­ tively shrunken monetary economy, the waqffor the maintenance ofpub­ 68 He was the representative of the Maliki school of law and taught in the Umayyad mosque under the central 'Dome of the Eagle (qubbat ai-naSi')'. He owed his ca­ lic institutions and buildings represented in some regards the urban t reer in Damascus to the Burids, equivalent to the iqta , the immediate agricultural levy for the sustenance 69 See fn. 63. of the military in the rural areas. Both, military and urban institutions, 70 For the in the Ottoman period compare Tarabulusi (d. 922/1516): AI-Is'affi received funding independent from the fiscal redistribution of the ahkam al-azuqaf, (Beirut, 1981), 62. The ruler is allowed to take a loan from the waqf when vicissitudes occur to Islam. In Mamluk Egypt the loans were ruler. To control the waqfi and to keep them in line with the goals of never returned: M, Hoexter: "Huquq Allah", 153 fn.71; E. Tyan: Histoire, the Zangid policy, the office of the "administrator of the supervision of 378, En. 2. the waqfi" was newly created or now especially emphasized. 174 Stefan Heidemann

What were the economic impacts of this new waqfpolicy of Nur al­ Din Mahmud on the development of the cities? Nur al-Din Mahmud's waqfpolicy was part of a wide range of measures stimulating dynamic economic growth. The endowed property-the new waqfassets, shops, khans and workshops in the suq, tenements and other buildings-in­ creased urban economic activities and allowed a far larger group ofpeople to find housing and employment in the cities. The expansion of the Sel­ juq form of iqta' improved the cultivation ofrural areas and fed a growing urban population. Numerous settlement surveys prove this demographic turn. The waqffostered a dynamic development, quite the opposite of what Goitein has perceived.